There are quality-of-life improvements that will help the city continue to grow and meet the needs of residents as recruitment of workers continues. Projects under way include a health care clinic, a high school, a joint-use recreation and rehabilitation wellness facility, and a library and cultural arts facility.

What’s missing is sufficient daycare for workers’ families. The number of affected children exceeds 1,200, with more than half of them under the age of five in Platte County.

So whether by “purchase” or by some miraculous intervention, I would like a quality child care facility with sufficient staffing to provide parents with a safe, caring environment and their children with the best opportunity to prepare for their future education and life. The sustainability of our community hinges on it.

Jessie Levine
County Manager
Sullivan County, New Hampshire
jlevine@sullivancountynh.gov

In New Hampshire, counties are not responsible for transportation infrastructure. Even so, if I could, I would buy sidewalks for the 15 municipalities in my county. Sidewalks to everywhere: parks and playgrounds, schools and senior centers, town centers, business centers, and shopping centers, beaches and mountains, and rail trails. And since we have about five months of winter, I’d throw in a couple of sidewalk plows (to share regionally, of course).

Sidewalks help create healthy communities. They encourage people of all ages to be outside, where they will interact with one another. They provide safe passage for people who prefer not to drive or who don’t have that option. They give us security and direction and make long distances seem shorter. They are equalizing; there are no haves and have-nots on sidewalks.

Caryn Miller, ICMA-CM
City Manager
Millersville, Tennessee
citymanager@cityofmillersville.com

I would purchase the property next door to city hall. We were bequeathed acreage behind our property for a park, and we cannot access it as it is landlocked.

Further, our city is growing fast as Nashville spreads out, and we are anticipating the need for more parks and trails for our residents in the near future.

The purchase of this property will allow us to develop it in such a way that it can become the central focus of our city for visitors and residents alike, while affording us the opportunity of a new city services complex and emergency operations center.

Robert Stowe, ICMA-CM
City Manager
Bothell, Washington
bob.stowe@ci.bothell.wa.us

Building great public places that energize private sector development and building a stronger community is my passion. With community support, Bothell is pursuing its dream of a revitalized downtown. We’re creating a special place for friends and families to enjoy and business to prosper in our city of 44,000 residents.

We invested more than $150 million in infrastructure improvements to attract more than $650 million in private capital over a 25-year period. After only a few years, the city has attracted more than $300 million in private capital. The city has more infrastructure work to perform in its downtown, and I would buy $30 million in infrastructure to complete the vision and promote additional vertical development.